Taxi's
To Travel
Ben
van Wijnen
A taxi driver told me once, that there are
over 13,000 taxi's in Kuala Lumpur. They all have meters, but sometimes
there are not used. Before you hop into a taxi, you better deal about the
fare.
On Penang most of the taxi's don't have meters and if they have, they
won't use them. For us, tourists, that's bad, because you have to deal
about the fare. Taxi's in KL and Penang are air-conditioned.
My advice: don't get into the taxi before you have seen the meter and
when it's not running ask him to put it on ......... or deal about the
fare!
Coming for the first time to Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur International
Airport, you can buy a taxi ticket at a counter when you have passed the
customs. You mention the name of your hotel and you pay for the ticket
(coupon),
with the name of your hotel on it. Outside the arrival hall there are
taxi's waiting for you to bring you to the right hotel. Here's no dealing
about the fare
Generally, city taxis in KL use the meter system but at some places
such as the airport, KL Sentral and KL Tower they use the coupon system.
If you're taking the ERL high speed train to the city center, you can buy
a taxi coupon at the KL Sentral station counter just as you come out of
the barriers.
Flying to Penang there's at the arrival hall a big sign, telling you the
fares you have to pay to your hotel. Here you can also buy a ticket for a
taxi at a counter. Here's also no dealing about the fare.
The sign at Bayan Lepas (Penang)
If you want to take a taxi out of Kuala Lumpur to another state, go to the
Pudu Sentral Bus Terminal on Jalan
Pudu (Level 2).
Fares are negotiable, depending on distance. But the taxi won't leave the
terminal until it has four passengers. Malaysians use this service only at
peak travel periods, so you could be waiting for some time for a cab to
fill up.
You can, however, pay a fee equivalent to a full load. Full load fares are
(approx.) RM180 to the Cameron
Highlands, RM200 to the city of Malacca, R350 to Johor Bahru,
and RM350 to Penang and to Kuantan. The
terminal is open 24 hours.
City taxis are metered and yellow and black
color or the new red and white color. Flag fall is RM 1.50 for the first
two kilometers and 50 sen for every km there after. There is no extra cost
for air-conditioned taxis, but there is a 50 % surcharge on the fare from
midnight to 6 am.
Compare Hotel Prices from all major reservation sites
Search availability for over 100,000 hotels world wide from over 20 hotel reservation websites. HotelsCombined.com - one site to search them all!
A new taxi in KL
Your best bet is to get the bell boy of
your hotel to call you a taxi. He will give you an idea what the fare will
be. Note that this only applies in Kuala Lumpur. In the rest of the
country you will find queues of taxis willing to take you most places,
although the standard of driving is not perhaps suited to the timid of
heart.
